Analyzing my students’ face-to-face philosophy classroom discussions: An exploratory study

Abstract

We will be using content analysis to further the understanding of teaching and learning in two philosophy classroom discussions that adopt the ‘community of inquiry’ approach. Our sample consisted of 35 high ability students (aged 14) from one class in an all-boy high school in the central part of Singapore. For the purpose of this study, a video recording of the discussions was used. The students’ responses were categorized quantitatively, and interrater reliability determined using the percent agreement statistic. The implications and key learning points will also be discussed in this paper.